Participant tools
and worksheets

Explore the SMART Recovery participant toolkit to find worksheets with handy guides on how to use them.

  • Tool

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)

Performing a cost benefit analysis (CBA) helps individuals weigh the positives and negatives of a behavior, facilitating motivation, decision-making, and progression from precontemplation to the contemplation and preparation stage of change.

  • Worksheet

Change Plan

The change plan worksheet captures and organizes essential elements of a plan, including desired changes, reasons, steps, helpers, success indicators, and obstacles.

  • Tool

Urge Log

An awareness and understanding of urges is crucial to recovery. One way to understand urges is by recording them. After a few entries, participants may notice patterns and similarities about their urges. The log then becomes a road map that will help them to anticipate situations and emotions that may trigger urges and  plan ways to avoid recognized triggers or distract themselves from the urge until it passes.

  • Worksheet

The ABC's

An awareness and understanding of urges is crucial to recovery. One way to understand urges is by recording them. After a few entries, participants may notice patterns and similarities about their urges. The log then becomes a road map that will help them to anticipate situations and emotions that may trigger urges and  plan ways to avoid recognized triggers or distract themselves from the urge until it passes.

  • Tool

Setting SMART Goals

It’s important to make sure goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.

  • Tool

Lifestyle Balance Pie

The lifestyle balance pie helps us to visually map out which areas of life are important to us and which areas need greater attention.

  • Worksheet

DEADS: Deny/Delay; Escape; Avoid/Accept/Attack; Distract; Substitute

DEADS is an acronym that stands for "Deny/Delay," "Escape," "Avoid/Accept/Attack," "Distract," and "Substitute." This tool is designed to equip individuals with strategies to combat the immediate demands of addictive urges, providing practical steps to diminish their power and influence.

  • Worksheet

Disputing Unhelpful Beliefs

Beliefs may be characterized as helpful, unhelpful, or somewhere in between. SMART Recovery, a program grounded in empowering individuals to reduce or resolve addictive behaviors, underscores the importance of addressing unhelpful beliefs through the Dispute Unhelpful Beliefs tool. This is a central pillar in the SMART Recovery approach, guiding individuals through the process of identifying and challenging beliefs that might fuel addictive behaviors.

  • Worksheet

Personify and Disarm

The urges you feel aren’t you. They’re an impulse or a reaction-something separate from you. For some, personifying urges can create a helpful boundary. To help something abstract like an urge feel more concrete and manageable, you can use the Personify and Disarm tool.

  • Worksheet

HOV: Hierarchy of Values

In the throes of addiction, it's not uncommon for individuals to feel disconnected from what truly matters most to them. Activities, relationships, and principles that once held significant importance might have taken a back seat to the pursuit of addictive behaviors. SMART Recovery's Hierarchy of Values (HOV) tool is designed to bridge this gap, helping you reconnect with your authentic self and realign your daily actions with your deepest values.

  • Tool

Role-Playing/Rehearsal

When we think of role-playing, we might imagine actors rehearsing for a play. They try out different lines and actions, preparing for their performance. But did you know that a similar strategy can be super helpful for people working to overcome addictive behaviors? This strategy, known as the Role-play/Rehearsal tool in SMART Recovery, is a powerful way to get ready for tough situations and make smart choices.

  • Worksheet

Explore New Pursuits and Passions

Think back to before your addictive behavior started taking up a lot of your time. Maybe there was something you loved to do when you were younger but got distracted from. Now’s the time to bring these interests back and/or explore new ones. The Explore New Pursuits and Passions tool will help identify the pursuits or passions that can help bring the pleasure of living back into your life. Remember you don’t have to choose just one. Find pursuits and passions and keep looking for more that satisfy you.

  • Tool

USA: Unconditional Self Acceptance (and UOA and ULA)

Recovery isn't just about stopping harmful behaviors; it's also about building a mindset that supports happiness and resilience. That's where Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA), Unconditional Other-Acceptance (UOA), and Unconditional Life-Acceptance (ULA) come in. These three pillars of acceptance in SMART Recovery help you build a strong emotional foundation by teaching you how to fully accept yourself, others, and life's challenges.

  • Worksheet

Five Questions

The Five Questions tool explores how to go about getting what you want. Sometimes it’s hard to see what you could do differently to achieve your goals. The tool provides direct questions about future wants, current actions, current feelings, alternative actions, and future feelings.  Helpful examples offer guidance along the question path.